The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 136 points at 8,707. The index dropped to a low of 8,619 but recovered smartly and touched a day's high of 8,856 after the government announced the duty cuts.
The metal, banking and PSU stocks were hit the most, while capital goods stocks were the major gainers today.
The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 21 points at 8,822. The NSE Nifty ended flat at 2,734.
The market breadth was negative - out of 2,501 stocks traded, 1,613 declined, 790 advanced and the rest were unchanged.
INDEX SHAKERS...
HDFC tumbled 4.8% to Rs 1,289, and Tata Steel slumped 4.5% at Rs 160.
Sterlite slipped 1.8% to Rs 244. SBI and Sun Pharma declined 1.7% each to Rs 1.028 and Rs 1,005, respectively.
TCS dropped 1.6% to Rs 466, and Wipro shed 1.4% to Rs 212.
Tata Motors and HDFC Bank were down 1.2% each to Rs 132 and Rs 857, respectively.
Hindalco, Bharti Airtel and Jaiprakash Associates were the other major losers today.
...AND THE MOVERS
Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 4.9% to Rs 295. Ranbaxy surged 3.9% at Rs 215.
Grasim gained 3% to Rs 1,385. DLF and Hindustan Unilever moved up 1.5% each to Rs 157 and Rs 253, respectively.
Maruti Suzuki was up 1.4% at Rs 642. Reliance Communications and ONGC were up 1.2% each at Rs 157 and Rs 681, respectively.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
Reliance led the value chart with a turnover of Rs 248.42 crore followed by Educomp Solutions (Rs 236.48 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 165.01 crore), Reliance Infrastructure (Rs 112.04 crore) and United Spirits (Rs 105.78 crore).
Cals Refineries topped the volume chart with trades of around 1.18 crore shares followed by Unitech (86.31 lakh), Satyam Computer (82.97 lakh), DLF (60.66 lakh) and ICICI Bank (49.91 lakh).